Elements and Elementals
Something so common and so underutilized.
The elementals are common to nearly all modern witches. Most of us engage with them. It’s no secret that the guardians of the watchtowers originate with John Dee and Edward Kelley, christian magicians. The Guardians are an Enochian magick received by them from angels. These Guardians of the Watchtowers were originally “tables” or “tablets” used to discern names and hierarchies of spirits and angels. Later these were systematized by the Golden Dawn into an elemental-quarter framework. This was adopted into wicca, and most don’t question what they are calling upon.
Commonly elemental correspondences are listed in most beginner witches guides and never elaborated on. No original practice or thought is put into them. This is a shame given the elementals versatility and near necessity to witches. Of course almost nothing is actually required.
I’d like to speak about some personal gnosis I have had about the elements, and some practices I found helpful. First I’ll talk about the elements as they relate to metaphysical gender. Then I will relate the elements to a reformed Tree of Life. Finally I will conclude the gnosis with a meditative ritual and my own results with it. The elements are relational roles to us, and should be treated like that; not merely aesthetic metaphysical furniture.
Some Definitions:
Metaphysical Gender Principle:
As should be commonly known to any occultist now, metaphysical gender is allegorically similar to biological gender. They are, however, cosmic forces and therefore do not equate to male and female bodies per se, nor to our notions of gender roles. These principles are recognized first in the gender of the human corpus, in the gametes or the apparent reproductive role, of man and woman. This is not to be mistaken with our personal or cultural notion of what it means to be a man or woman. This is “seed and egg”, not “manly and womanly”.
These forces are quite abstracted from the physical world and they causally precede the world and therefore humanity. Given the human propensity to project human notions onto the inhuman — to anthropomorphise everything — it is almost a misnomer to use gender labels for these forces. Rather than accept ourselves as fractal reflections of these forces we tend to insist that the universe is “like us”. Nonetheless gender terminology is what the language grants, and with the initiates clarity it is a good allegory.
Masculine:
The principle of outpouring or energizing. The allegory giving its name is that of the semen entering the womb. It enters and energizes. It also grows and proliferates. It is expansive in nature. It moves out in all directions.
Feminine:
The principle of receiving and forming. The allegory giving its name is that of the womb which receives semen and forms child. This principle is also selective, taking in the good thing and rejecting or even destroying the bad thing. It crushes and selects. It is contracting in nature. It moves inward from all directions.
Element(s):
What I mean by element, is a principle in the animus mundi. These are not thought-forms per se, but an energy or typified subtle substance, represented by the four traditional elements. Air is free flow; mind. Fire is blazing light; passion or energy. Water is deep blackness; the subconscious flow. Earth is stalwart or stillness; material.
These descriptions do not adequately convey the experience of each element. Take some time to look at any common correspondence table and think on these things to truly understand. These subtle principles use the allegory of the namesake materials for description, and aptly so. Think on this also.
Elemental:
These are self-perpetuating thoughtforms, or similar entities. They are living things made of the subtle substances, or else closely related to the element. The best description is that they are inhabitants of that element.
Watchtowers/Guardians:
This is a quarter-called intelligence. These are the thought-forms or spirits we ascribe directions and use in ritual. You might think of these as the angels in charge of each given element. In the Astral Oaken Grove (AOG), even though we use a traditional quarter call, we actually have a person stand in that place (more on that later), rather than a candle or something. Some traditions use four quarters, and I have read of some using eight. I have yet to try eight.
The Elements and gender:
The elements are usually categorized with gender but not considered in their metaphysical-gender roles. We say that air and fire are masculine and that earth and water are feminine. Why are the elements gendered? Obviously we do not suppose all undine to be beautiful female sirens, nor all lakes to identify as she/her. Does a physical lake even have gender? The gender is, again, an allegory for role, or propensity.
It seems to me that fire and water can serve either a masculine or feminine role depending on context. Earth and air seem to be strictly binary; so much so that they lack resemblance to any common understanding of gender. Here is what I mean:
Fire:
Fire in the masculine sense is the expansive heat. It is hot air pushed in all directions. It is the stirring of passion — rage, lust, zeal, adrenaline — that heats the body and drives one to action. Masculine fire fills spaces and projects through any opening.
In the feminine sense, consider the fuel of the fire. The wood is consumed and crushed to powder (ash). The heat burns away that which can be burned and leaves that which cannot. It is highly selective in what it burns. Fire purifies metal, separating parts.
Fire is also a principle of ascension, regardless of gender. The heat and smoke rise into unknown heavens. Though fire is more connected to abyssal energies (spirit below) it has a tendency to rise. In this way it is comparable to zeal, and a persons desire to rise up; stand with pride; and ascend his spirit.
Water:
In the feminine sense water is collection and absorption. Natural water is usually cold and therefore absorbs heat. It also tends to collect together rather than spread out, due to surface tension and atomic magnetism. Just watch it for a time after it is spilled. Unless there is slope on the floor the drops collect together over time. The ocean forms the beaches and cuts into rock over time. Feminine water is the cool reflection and unseen undercurrents; the subconscious.
In the masculine sense, water has a tendency to fill spaces and be pliable to shape. Water enters many cracks and takes the shape of the vessel it is in. Masculine water is the force, not the form. It is shaped by its vessel.
Water is closely associated with celestial energies (spirit above) and has a tendency to descend. It falls from the sky in rain, it collects in depressions as lakes and puddles. It is therefore comparable to divine revelation and a persons desire to descend into her own dark waters; understanding as intuition; the spirit descending.
Earth and Air:
These two are far more fixated in one gender role than the first two.
Earth is nearly entirely feminine. Earth is all stability. Earth is slow to move and only sort of fills spaces when moved by gravity. Earth has a contracting tendency in its capacity to hold itself together, to pull distinct parts together in a zero-gravity environment, and its tendency to crush things. It is so feminine as to be barely recognizable as such. It is all form and no force.
Air is nearly entirely masculine. Air is all movement. It is quick and more fluid than water. It fills all spaces and always expands outward, except when in such a mass as to be able to produce its own gravity; nebulous in size. Air lacks any kind of energizing quality. Unlike fire it is usually cold and just takes on whatever temperature is ambient. It is mostly “force” and barely “masculine” in any known way.
I would even go so far as to say that earth and air are more like the cosmic or primordial feminine and masculine than water or fire are. They are form and force rather than female and male.
The Kabbalistic Tree and the elements:
I don’t subscribe to the Tree of Life as a metaphysical map anymore because I think it does more to restrict my understanding than it does to enlighten. It served me in the early days of metaphysical learning, but now the pedagogic model must be released for my own growth. Moreover it subscribes to a pseudo-judeo-christian worldview with a smattering of pagan correspondences that I find to be distasteful.
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn did much to expand upon the tree of life and qaballah, but the finished work was so convoluted as to be a stumbling block for newcomers. It is practically a literary and liturgical maze of documents and experiences. This isn’t to say it may not ring true for some, but I think it doesn’t serve the people as well as it could in its path to Truth.
However, the geometric diagram of the Tree can serve as a model of balanced forces in the cosmos. It also happens to fit the modern planets including the sun, moon, and earth. It obviously doesn’t fit the cacophony of non-planets used in modern astrology. A reformed Tree of Life should be simple enough to teach a set of basic meanings. Here is the reformed tree that I saw in a dream and drew just after waking up. Each sephira has a planetary correspondence and some have an elemental one. I will also take some time to describe groups of sephira.
Keter: Mercury
Supposed to represent the godhead essentially. Keter is the Ultimate Unmanifest. Keter is the totality of all that is. It is the cause and the container of all things. It is the barest hint of hints. Keter holds all creation in it and it “disseminates” down the Tree to cause creation. Keter is basically the ALL.
Mercury is placed here. Mercury, being a conjunction of the Taurus and Venus symbols represents a unified force of “mind”, which has both genders within it. I also like to put a pentacle in the eye of mercury to add fractal imagery and mathematical perfection to the idea.
Keter is none of the elements and all of them.
This concept of dissemination is where I start to see the Tree of Life as wrong. Existence doesn’t disseminate. There is nothing (literally and figuratively) for it to spread into. Moreover any concept of corruption, pollution, diluting, or any similar idea is blatantly false. It is axiomatically self-contradicting to imply anything of the like. If the ALL is everything then there must be nothing else to corrupt, pollute, or dilute. If there were some polluter then the ALL wouldn’t be everything, which is paradoxical.
A note about Nothing:
I said before that there is nothing (literally and figuratively) for Keter to disseminate into. I am referencing the idea of AIN. In Qaballah there is a process by which AIN becomes Keter. It is highly figurative and basically boils down to Nothing becoming “No Limits” and condensing infinity into a “Limitless Light”.
This Nothing is beyond all description, but can be best thought of as the most abstract form of Nothing, beyond even labels. Labels are themselves “things”. This Nothing isn’t the “pure being” of Buddhists and transcendental meditators. It is beyond selfhood, being, and experience. It is the only thing to precede Keter, which is everything.
The Nothing and Keter are reflections of each other. Keter comes from the Nothing in a similar way to how water is formed by its vessel. If you can, imagine how the internal shape of a vessel dictates the exterior shape of a mass of water placed within it. Keter doesn’t spring from Nothing so much as it is dictated by its “shape”. The Nothing is completely devoid of anything, and Keter is the ultimate fullness of everything. The shape of the vessel (Nothing) is similar to a point on a graph, with no mass or vector; the water (Keter) takes shape around this point and expands outward from it. It is almost an inverse vessel.
Nothing gets no symbol or place on the Tree because it is beyond such things.
Chokmah: Jupiter
Supposed to represent pure force. It is “wisdom” in the sense of undifferentiated knowledge which is incomprehensible until Binah comes later. It is like the unbridled force of divine righteousness, the urge to do right in all its possible forms.
Jupiter is placed here. Jupiter represents expansion and wealth, but expansion is the primary symbol here. Chokmah is the first expansion or swelling of creation. What does the king do except expand in power and breadth? I like to use the double-z of Zeus, rather than the more common symbol.
Chokmah is air; the nearly genderless, but nonetheless masculine, “force” of unbridled creation. It expands in all directions and fills all spaces.
Binah:
Supposed to be pure form. It is the “hewing out” of the Torah, in the Jewish tradition. If Chokmah is like a formless idea, then Binah is writing that idea down. It represents pure discernment and division. It is the essence of separation and distinction; “form”. Binah forces all things into place, so that nothing in creation is beyond its laws.
Saturn goes here. Saturn is the time god and represents the ultimate halting, death. It is the ultimate contraction and the perfect counter to Jupiter. I like to use the inverted sickle of Saturn.
Binah is earth; the perfect form. Binah does not move so much as it crushes and forms.
The Supernal Triad:
These first three sephirot cannot accurately be described apart from each other. They exist in conjunction with each other. Indeed all the sephirot cannot be said to be previous or succeeding one another. They all happen at once all the time and perfectly overlap each other. The Tree of Life is a causal map, not a temporal one. Keter constantly upholds chokmah and binah which reflect each other and come together and push apart at all times. Chokmah and Binah together are nigh indistinguishable from Keter.
Chokmah and Binah truly belong together within Keter as pure expanding wisdom and perfect discernment in the Great Mind. Technically, each sephira could be said to stand on its own, but without both Chokmah and Binah together no good could be done. Binah is like the bones or framework for the viscera or life of Chokmah. Binah is like an empty excel spreadsheet and Chokmah is the numbers.
The Supernal Triad is without any form of humanity or anything really recognizable as anthropomorphic. The Supernal Triad is the most abstracted form of the ideas of things and they therefore lack anything grounded or human. Despite this, they are understandable.
Chesed: Mars
Meaning “mercy” basically, it is the first “masculine” form. It is the drive to love and to prosper. It is a more human-like reflection of Chokmah. Whereas Chokmah grows in all directions as a force of nature, Chesed does it with purpose. It has love, it has zeal, it is relatable. This is the Divine Masculine. It derives its image from expansion and humanizes it.
I consider this sephirot to have the God, as in the Horned God as Ideal Man, as its representative. This is not to say that the historical Horned God matches this, nor that every story about the Horned God matches chesed. Basically, only one aspect of the Horned God fits here, and that is an abstracted form of the Horned God; the Perfect Man.
What I mean by the “Perfect Man” is the complete and individuated man. The man at his most whole, heroic state. The Horned God is divine and animal, represented by his horns and ears. He is powerful, sexual, destructive, constrictive, loving, and gentle; all things in their proper time. The Horned God in this form is beyond restraint because He needs no restraint; His every thought and action are good. This isn’t the impotent goodness of certain ascetic beliefs. This is the Man fully engaged and in love with the Goddess (the whole world); He lives life fully in every moment. This isn’t the Pan (panic) of ancient days, but it is masculinity at its fullest.
Mars is the planet here. Mars is the symbol of man, and thus it is here. Here is where my own symbolism kind of fails, because mars represents war and anger and iron, which chesed is not. I’ve basically hijacked the symbol of mars for my own use in spite of any historical mythology. The reason I think it works is because chesed is a masculine force, as is mars. Mythological mars was very much a metaphysically feminine force because the culture around manhood was very metaphysically-feminine, as it is now. I will put an aside about a theory for this below. Mars here represents the fiery, expansive nature of masculinity.
Chesed is masculine fire; expansion and heat.
An aside, gender:
I once read in A Witches Bible by Janet and Stewart Farrar that men possess the “feminine spiritual element” and women the “masculine spiritual element”. I have found that to be so true, that when I read it I realized that was what I had already witnessed as true.
In my own magickal practice I notice that I do better when taking in energy than I do pouring out my own. I mean that I do not emotionally or astrally produce enough energy. Nor do I maintain good control while emotional, to use and outpour my own energy effectively. I do much better calling on other entities and taking them within myself, which is metaphysically feminine. Moreover my magick works best when I am focused and controlled, which is also metaphysically feminine.
I have also seen consistently bigger aura with women, and a higher propensity to be outwardly emotional and therefore pour out more energy. It seems as though women “idle” at a much higher output level.
To understand this, I like the allegory of the alternator and the conduit. Those with a masculine-astral element (mostly women) are like the alternator; they swirl round and round in their psyches and put off quite a bit of “electricity”. Those with a feminine-astral element (mostly men) are like conduit; they direct energy well and absorb it, but don’t have much electricity on their own. Together the alternator with conduit generate a lot of power. Apart they are still useful in their way, but not nearly as useful as when together. Metaphysics is a team sport, as it turns out.
The culture around gender also seems to be inverse to metaphysical gender. Men are said to be “logical” and “disciplined”, which is metaphysically feminine. Women are said to be “emotional” and “passionate”, which is metaphysically masculine. The cultural ideals are, of course, a bit silly and they don’t usually preach the whole Truth anyway.
Cultural ideals are like this: say you have a carpenter who takes the time to cut down many trees in order to build a table. It is a lovely table that they make; truly a work of art with a lot of time spent in its making. Then whenever someone asks about the table, the carpenter says they “found it just like this”, and “this is just how it is in nature”. Cultural ideals are arbitrary and not always consciously formed, and we tend to assume that our own culture is normal-ergo-good.
Gevurah: Venus
Meaning “severity”, this represents discipline, strength, and power. This power is that of harshness; the power to cut and destroy; hence why this is traditionally mars. However, this power is also the power to form, by destroying the weakness and squeezing (as a womb does), forming what is strong and good. Like a bag of water, by squeezing it you create a jet of water. So it is that Gevurah squeezes power to get it to go somewhere. Gevurah takes in the masculinity of Chesed and squeezes it with its femininity to birth something new.
I’m sure you see the necessary partnership between Chesed and Gevurah. They are incomplete without the each other. Perfect laissez-faire love and power with pure discipline and formation together create the next sephirah, tiphareth: the child. I will talk about this in the middle pillar shortly.
I put Venus here, Venus being the symbol of woman. This is the divine feminine; severe, contractive, harsh, formative, selective. Again, mythological Venus is certainly metaphysically-masculine, as is our current conception of women for the reason I spoke of above.
Gevurah is feminine water: contraction and coolness.
Netzach: Luna
Netzach represents “right-brain” thinking, that is creative flow. It is an associative, formless, wordless outpouring of creativity. It is free-drawing, lunar, sub-ego. Netzach is any unrestricted form of thought. Pretty simple.
I put the moon here, since the moon represents transience and creativity. Luna is a feminine symbol, and yet it is on the masculine side of the tree. This is precisely because women possess the masculine astral element. Moreover the moon better represents the power of this sephira, creativity and subconscious waters.
Luna is the mystery, the creative principle, the transient emotions, and dreams. It is hidden and mercurial. Luna, being receptive to Sols light thereby giving us night, is as a whole an excellent symbol for women.
Netzach is masculine water; the force that fills spaces; the creativity akin to divine revelation.
Hod: Sol
This represents “left-brain” thinking. It is logical, axiomatic, illuminating. It is deductive, sequential, highly formed. It is purposeful logic, solar, waking ego-consciousness (not to be confused with egotistical). Hod is highly restricted thought.
I put the sun here because the sun represents illumination and the sun would burn you up, just as Hod is meant to burn up falsehood. Sol is on the feminine side of the tree because this force is contracting and harsh, which is metaphysically feminine.
Sol pours forth its light to burn away the mystery and make the unknown known, just as the sun does to create day. Sol is radiantly masculine, yet feminine metaphysically: the very image of men.
Hod is feminine fire; that which burns up what cannot withstand it.
The Middle Pillar:
The middle pillar is neither masculine nor feminine, but usually represents a conjunction of the two, and the source of the other two. Each middle sephira like the children of the other forces, except for Da’at and Keter. Themiddle pillar also doesn’t have any good elemental correspondences except allegorically. We already covered Keter so I won’t go over it again.
Malkuth:
Earth is the symbol here. It represents the physical world. Truly it is a conjunction of all the previous forces, and the “final” emanation. It requires all the other sephira to exist as it does. It also has a mutally-reflective relationship with the next sephira; Yesod. Malkuth is all the elements and none in particular. It represents the phenomenal world we see around us. Malkuth is called “kingdom”,.
Yesod:
This is the astral plane, the realm of dreams, the light behind your eyelids, the unseen world. This place, supposedly (I’ve yet to have a fully out of body experience, but I believe it so far from the semi out of body experiences I have had), is the matrix on which matter is placed. It is called “foundation” for a reason. It is a world of dreams and visions. It has several layers; lower for the world mind, middle for a mixed realm of spirits and world mind, and upper for mostly spirits.
The symbol here is Neptune, as the representative of dreams. Yesod is the deep sea waters of subconscious and unconscious. It is a world mostly unknown and only seen in darkness. Many alien presences are here, or at least presences foreign to normal life.
Yesod also has an interesting placement. By being the sephira just previous to the physical world, it in a way is the only other sephira we truly visit. By day we are in Malkuth and by dream we are in Yesod. All other sephira are experienced in the astral and can all be said to be a part of it. We enter an astral state and find the unseen world there. The upper, middle, and lower astral can be understood as a distinction of experience, rather than different places per se.
Yesod is allegorically water, but isn’t actually related to elemental water. Yesods water is the deep see, which is alien and unknown.
The Mental Triad:
Netzach, Hod, and Yesod together form our mental triad. These are the different states of mind and the forms of experience. Combining the powers of creative flow and conscious distinction we get astral manifestation; dreaming and awake. So it is also that the Animus Mundi, by combining seemingly-random creative chaos (Hod) and the uncompromising laws of nature and mind (Netzach) we get the world concept (Yesod). After this Yesod is clothed in matter to create Malkuth.
Tiphareth:
This is the child of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine. Its symbol is Uranus because it is the perfectly individuated person. It is our True Will and our Divine Self. It is us when we perfect ourselves. “Beauty” is its name. Uranus represents independence and individuality, which is best stated in tiphareth.
Tiphareth is also connected to all other sephira directly, except malkuth and keter which are experienced indirectly. There is an allegory there but I don’t know what it is yet.
Tiphareth has no elemental correspondence except perhaps Spirit/Quintessence; the Spirit which transcends matter or is perfected from it.
Da’at:
Da’at is “knowledge”. This means the true knowledge. It is the barrier between man and the supernal. It is also death. “The knowledge of Me is the knowledge of death”. Da’at is an uncrossable boundary to the divine. It isn’t actually uncrossable. It’s just that when you do, you cease to exist as you are. This is also an allegory for all knowledge, given that the ignorant self dies as we learn. However the death in Da’at is ultimate dissolution. When one comes back from here they are no longer themselves. They are one with the Ultimate.
Pluto goes here. Pluto/Charon is the destruction and recreation. It is the crossing of the river Styx. Pluto is the final barrier: death, disillusion, dissolution.
The middle pillars don’t easily have elements but usually exist as conjunctions of the other forces. Ascribe to them whatever you like. As I said this is just an allegory; take it or leave it. I certainly don’t use it as a cosmic-map anymore because I find it to be too small. The experience of the astral and magick has so far shown me that this map is just a map and nothing more. It’s fine enough but isn’t really accurate as one experiences it.
The Tree of Life is like a field guide for Russia being used in Canada. The map doesn’t work but the sidebar information about animals, plants, and survival techniques is close enough for use if you can adapt it.
The Elements, medieval confusion:
If you’re a witch then you have probably read enough books to know that some traditions consider the sword to be air and others fire, the wand takes the opposite stance. If you’re wondering why that is (and not just how that came to be historically), here is my own reasoning.
Medieval magicians thought of air as the realm of spirits. You couldn’t see air with your eyes, but you could feel it. You could move air with fire (think of the heat waves above fire). Fire was therefore the mind. They thought of fire as burning away dross and uncleanliness and they thought an apt mind did the same thing to confusion and lies. An apt mind can find the truth by eliminating lies deductively. They thought of the mind as shaping and moving spirits; fire moving air.
This means that to some the wand was air because it directed spirits. The wand was like the kingly staff which had no killing power in itself, but moved soldiers and nations, just as we move spirits. The sword was like fire because it cut down the enemy; the enemy of truth was lies. The spirit moved unseen and the mind cut away that which is untruthful.
Nowadays with our advancements in science fire became more like spirits. Fire is the fourth state of matter, plasma. Plasma is similar to ectoplasm. Plasma is untouchable, like spirits. Air on the other hand is more like the free-thinking mind. The sword, being the mind, became air and the wand being spiritual power became fire. Now there’s a nice mix of traditions and most things have to be discovered by each individual. Its a real mess.
Personally I subscribe to the Athame/Sword being fire. Fire to me represents the will, animal passion, and righteous zeal. The wand represets air; air being unseen forces and a monarchs power.
Six Elements:
My teacher taught me about celestial and abyssal energies as elements. These were related to angels and demons respectively, keeping in mind that angels are not good nor demons bad. Angels were just militant, ordered, and hierarchical (celestial). Demons were chaotic, unpredictable, and pressurized (abyssal).
I have seen a similar concept only once, in a book about druidism that included solar and telluric elements. Solar element was like space, which is vast and very empty comparatively. The planets and stars move with mathematical precision. The solar seemed to obey some unseen and perfect order. The telluric element was like the deep mantle; hot, chaotic, hidden in the earht. It was pressurized and unpredictable. It caused volcanoes and tectonic movement.
The Celestial element is adjacent to air and water, the sky and clouds. Each angel serves its own purpose and can be trapped by abyssal energies.
The Abyssal element is adjacent to earth and fire, rock and lava. Each demon has its own motives and can be trapped by celestial energy.
This all got me thinking. The abyssal and celestial element could aptly be called spirit-above and spirit-below. Again, above and below do not denote value, just placement. Spirit above is that which transcends the elements; the patterns and orders. Spirit below is that which inhabits elements; the visceral experience and subconscious emotions.
The celestial element is the element of the psyche, sort of, or perhaps the ego-consciousness. It is abstraction and logical direction, but it is also related to water-as-divine-revelation. Water has a tendency to descend as rain just as divine revelation comes down upon us; as it is bestowed.
The abyssal element is the element of the body, sort of, or better yet the subconscious. It is visceral and logicless feeling, but is related to fire-as-righteous-zeal and animal passions. Fire has a tendency to rise (like heatwaves), just as zeal causes us to reach upward into divine spaces. Zeal comes from within and moves upward.
In another sense fire, being adjacent to abyssal energy, is received into the body as passion. Water, being adjacent to the celestial energy, is received in the mind as intuition. These are divine occurrences in the two states of ourselves; body and psyche. Ecstatic passion is divine. Unfathomable intuition is divine.
Water is like our subtle body. It is the receiver of life giving spirit, and it can pour forth astral life. Fire is like the spirit. It is the giver of life giving spirit and it can consume.
Elemental Meditations
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I have utilized a practice which has brought me closer to an intimate understanding of the elements. This is Elemental Evokation. The original goal was to summon an elemental as a separate entity, as opposed to an internal one. Evoking rather than invoking.
I know that evoking is usually for “lower spirits” and invoking for “upper spirits”; this is due to some kind of social-respect based relationship: “something something… you would not command your superior”, or whatever.
In AOG we don’t use that terminology in that way. For us invoking is bringing up something inside and evoking is bringing up something outside. You invoke a goddess or god when you “aspect”/channel them, or house them within yourself. You evoke a spirit if you were to hold them outside yourself. We still never evoked a deity; I don’t think any of us had thought of that.
That is the way I will be using those terms in this document. In AOG we firmly believe in the participation of all present individuals. Metaphysics is not a spectator sport. So, when available, we had elemental-invokers/quarter-callers that acted as the guardians of the watchtowers. These would wear special charms someone had made. Red for fire, green for earth (though I would now use brown), yellow for air, and blue for water. They would invoke the elemental and channel the energy through themselves into the circle; no need for unseen protectors.
In spite of my original intention it quickly became apparent that these practices were useful for meditation, and that I was not yet adept enough to manifest the spirit visibly. I now believe I have found methods that will help me do that. In the mean time however, this ritual works well as evokation practice in a safe way, and as proof of principle for elemental resistors (see below).
The ritual laid out here causes the user to attain an astral connection with the element. I believe a witch should do this at least once with each element individually. It may also be useful as a preliminary ritual for quarter-callers. They may be more effective if they perform a shortened version of the evokation before or during ritual.
Elemental resistors:
The premise of elemental resistors is that the elements affect one another. Specifically one element resists and propels another. Earth resists fire. Fire resists air. Air resists water. Water resists earth. Its a circle you see.
The elemental resistor is used in the seventh key of basil valentine, as a material for the drawn lines. When summoning fire, use stones. When summoning air use coals or ashes. When summoning water use lines drawn in the dirt; if you are in a temple room then drawn lines alone may do (perhaps a feather would help). When summoning earth use water or ice.
Theoretically then, changing the elements position might change how the energy moves in a circle. If one calls fire to east, air to south, water to west, and earth to north, it is quite possible that each element might propel the next in an infinite circle. I have seen some “shamanic” circles that place air in the east, fire in the south, earth in the west, and water in the north. My initiation brother uses such a circle and he claims the energy level is much higher than a traditional wiccan circle. Whether that cyclical elemental arrangement would raise energy properly or create more chaos is yet to be known to me.
The Seventh Key:
The Seventh Key of Basil valentine is the image seen above. My teacher showed me to use a refined version of the image to trap spirits. We strip the image of its words and drawings. We merely use the geometric shapes. We also strip it of its alchemical meaning and use its symbological meaning instead.
It acts as a “road block” basically. Each line transfers energy into the others, spreading the force, so that no force can adequately penetrate it; it is impenetrable except maybe by such a superior force that the practitioner had no hope of control anyway. I would not try to trap a god in there, though that too may be possible.
The circle represents the ALL; the totality of creation; The Great Goddess. This circle, just as the witches circle, is a little universe separate from the exterior Universe. Everything is excluded until you let it in. The circle also represents Spirit; the spirit being a little fractal of the ALL.
The square is the world, as in the physical world. It is also the body; the body being the foremost manifestation of the physical world. Each corner could be the four winds or four elements, but I don’t think of it that way.
The triangle is the mind. The mental framework of understanding comes in threes; subject, object, verb; perceiver, perceived, perception; self, Deity, world. This can also be thought of as the astral body if you prefer that.
Collectively, the seventh key is also a whole image of a person or a whole body. Just as we exist in the Universe (circle), with a body (square) that houses a mind (tringle), so this triangle presents such a framework for the spirit we call to dwell. They are called within a triangle thus completing the entity. The spirit is placed within the mind, the mind in the body, the body within the exterior universe.
Regardless of symbology, which is also important, this thing works. Learn the symbology then forget it and use the symbol. The symbol acts as the barrier but not the catalyst. This isn’t an evokation triangle, just a housing. Put the sigil, or the evokation triangle, or triangle of art, or whatever you use within the center.
Elemental meditation:
Here are the steps for the ritual:
- Preliminary steps
- Cast Circle
- Godform assumption
- Cast evokation circle
- incense
- quarter call with intention in circle
- meditation
- dismissal, purifaction, closing ritual
Preliminary steps:
Do these before you begin the ritual. I tried setting up the seventh key as a part of the ritual. It took too long. The ritual still worked but the act did not serve as meditative preparation as I thought. It is much easier to set up the seventh key beforehand and empower it in the ritual.
Set up your altar beforehand. Light the sage incense in the censer and have the elemental incense in a separate bowl unlit. You will add it to the burning sage when the time comes. Put the altar near the center in whatever direction you feel comfortable with. I put the altar slightly to the side of me so that I may use the things on it, but it is not in the way that I faced for the meditation.
The evokation circle goes inside your circle. Having it within the circle symbolically implies a closeness, whereas outside the circle implies a separation. Evoking the elemental as a separate entity is theoretically interesting but I have yet to try it. With my new knowledge I understand that the entity being outside the circle may be necessary for visible manifestation as a separate entity. We live and we learn.
Cast the circle:
Do the circle casting, but do not do the quarter calls. Only trod deosil three times in the full moon, or widdershins in the new moon. I noticed no significant difference either way. The new moon is just as effective for meditation as the full, just in a different way.
During the full moon my sexual/creative/astral energies are very high. The images therefore bubble up out of the darkness of my mind as a rampant eruption which I almost cannot hold back; I am prone to dreaming. During the new moon the effect is opposite. My psyche sinks deep within and finds the images there. Both cases are effective.
After the circle is cast use the incense and holy water to cleanse the space.
The incense in AOG represents the masculine energy matrix of the universe. We say “As the mind comes before the body, so the astral comes before the physical. By the power of the masculine elements this space is cleansed and consecrated.” I visualize a matrix of squares, which represents the framework on which the physical is laced. The incense is air and fire, mind and spirit, the medium that contains the divine energy.
The holy water represents the feminine physical form of the universe. The water and salt are symbolically the waters of the womb and the semen; creating the physical body. The saltwater is the physical manifestation, the meat that goes on the bones. It fills the space and gives it new life, seeding it. We say “The circle is cleansed and consecrated by the power of the feminine. It is given new life and made manifest. By the power of the feminine you are alive and real.”
It should also be noted that we usually invoke the god before the goddess for similar reasons, the god is like a protector and an honor-guard to the goddess. He goes first to prepare space for the Queen. Though, in my personal rituals I do whatever comes to heart first. Usually this is the Goddess first since She was the first spirit that came to me.
Realistically the invokation of goddess first or god is really a matter of taste. The older wiccans exclusively drew down the moon. Later wiccans drew down the sun after the moon, but it was framed as the Goddess calling up the God in man. This later form still held the notion that the woman was somehow more magickal than the man, which was almost certainly a reactionary rhetoric to a nonsensically woman exclusionary patriarchy. It was an understandable reaction, but doesn’t necessarily serve us anymore, nor the cause of good.
In reality, all people possess divinity and are divinity. A man can invoke Goddess and a woman can invoke God. Nobody needs special permission from suppositions of any gender hierarchy to do this. Nobody needs another to be divine.
The true power of the gender principle is that all things are gendered. Intentional use of gender energies allows us to act as complementary essences to each other. Feminine energies take in masculine; masculine energies enter and enhance feminine ones. We are much better together than we are apart. Gender is about inclusion and conjugation, not exclusion or superiority.
Godform assumption:
This step is where you invoke your gods and goddesses or self-assert. This is where you take on the mantle of your divinity. I call the Great Goddess and Horned God. Then I mantle the ALL, saying “I Am inevitable” (shamelessly using a line from Marvel). Do whatever you do to take on your divine readiness.
Cast evokation circle:
Here you empower the previously drawn seventh key. Visualize the shape lighting up and being energized. I don’t bother invoking the elemental resistor, I just trust that the material in conjunction with visualizing the necessary energy will suffice as a resistor. I also take particular effort to twirl the censer around the evokation circle thrice and give three rounds of holy water spritzing to prepare the space.
Incense:
Pour the elemental incense into the censer and put the censer in the evokation circle. Stir it if the smell doesn’t change.
I am sure you noticed I move my hands through the energy circle of the seventh key several times. I have found that it doesn’t make a difference. There is no hole made by my hands because I am setting up the circle. The circle is me and an extension of me. No security is lost in doing this. I would nonetheless not put my hands in there once the spirit is in there.
Quarter call:
With athame in hand make the quarter call. Intend for the elemental to go into the circle as you say it. It will go there and be trapped for you to commune with it. I don’t see this as hostile or anything, only as a specification that I want the elemental “out there” rather than within me.
Meditation:
This is the meat of the ritual. Sit and meditate, or stand, whatever you are comfortable with. Let whatever comes to mind do so. Let the elemental “speak” and don’t interrupt. I am sure I don’t need to tell you what to do because you will know.
Dismissal, purification, closing:
After you are done say the elemental quarter closing out loud. After you recognize the entity as gone purify the space again. Close the seventh key and mess up the drawing; kick the dirt if you did it in dirt. Fold up the cloth if you do it that way. It is not good to leave astral roadblocks floating around.
Purify the space with the incense and holy water to clean up the residual energies. No need for passerby people to accidentally be energetically disrupted.
Close circle.
Results:
Fire:
I tried fire first. I intuited that this was right, rather than following any specific order. Here are the results. I did the ritual on 9–22–25. I did not take any astrology into consideration. This was a new moon ceremony.
I was initially disturbed by a bothersome spirit that had distracted me before. I saw it before as a little horned black thing with white dots for eyes. I did not see it during this ritual but I recognized a similar “vibe”. I said to it “begone evil spirit!” and it left. Most likely it was either curious or a trickster. I didn’t get the feeling that it was actively malicious. Probably a little faerie or something.
I later realized that it was like Pan, panic, sense of danger with no cause. It is an animal realization more than it is a definite thing.
When I performed the ritual the fire elemental came. I used little stones to make the seventh key; a stone at each corner and median; eight around the circle. Initially I felt its warmth. The trickster spirit came back and thumped near me several times. That combined with the energy of the elemental made me lose concentration.
I called out to the elemental again. My vision blurred a little, as if I was flexing my eyes. I spoke aloud, in trance, about tingling and heat and fear overcome; something like this: “fire is hot and would consume me but feels fine once I am in it”. I also said something about trepidation. I didn’t say “trial by fire” during the ritual, but that is almost certainly what I meant; the energy of overcoming, be it transformation or consumption. Change perhaps.
I saw in the astral light behind my closed eyes roaring fires and camp fires. I saw a swirling flame reach toward me from the seventh key. It reminded me of a sand worm from fantasy, or a like-like from Zelda. It had four teeth.
I then saw a sphere, the magic circle, filled with fire, as if it were trapped in a jar. I saw it bright as if it were a star. I shook off the star thought. The inner critic thought that was a cliché.
After that I only saw mental chatter. I felt the heat on the face until it left.
“Hail to the Guardians of the Watchtower of the South,
“Element of Fire, essence of passion and purification.
“Animal lust and righteous zeal, burn in my body and blaze in my heart.
“I ask you to come into my circle now. Come in good spirits.
“Bring with you the gifts of warm hearth and pounding heart.
“Salamander join us now. So Mote it Be!”
Water:
I did this ritual on 10–19–25. This was a third quarter ritual, but only one day off from full moon. Moreover this one was entirely imaginal. Someone was in my usual spot and I didn’t want to speak invocations out loud near another person.
I spoke the chants in my head. I held my personal circle. We always have a personal circle, and I used that. I happened to be near a river and I faced that. It happened to be near my west.
At first I tried thinking about water, but a loud slap near the shore reminded me to relax and to “just feel it”. Water is not for logic after all.
I sat, breathing. I saw a black fish swim right to left. I thought/felt “what was that!?”. I saw it swim down past my heart and bowels into a deep black pit, the deepest part of my stomach. There was a black goopy orb. The fish swam around it and then left through my lower end. This was my emotional core, I knew. I am afraid of failure. I am afraid of not being enough. I feel sick and tainted, like I may never defeat this thing in me, this lechery. I saw the ink fall away from the orb like black tendrils. Underneath was a orange-yellow orb. It almost looked yellow with orange veins, or like poorly mixed orange into yellow. Look at shroomlights from minecraft. That’s really close. When I saw the orange thing my mind whispered “sacral”.
After the ritual I looked it up. Sacral is the second chakra having to do with emotions and sex. It’s a bit strange because I do not utilize chakra symbology, but I guess there is some reality to the chakras. I feel that I will need to keep doing this until my issues are resolved.
After re-reading my notes to copy this I get the feeling that I didn’t really keep the water elemental separate this time around. Using my personal circle, and not actually drawing out a seventh key caused this. It’s no matter here. Elementals are not all that dangerous in my experience. They are like animals; just being what they are. No malice, just nature. Nonetheless, if you don’t actually do the ritual it won’t work; who’da thunk?
“Hail to the guardians of the watchtower of the west,
“the element of water, essence of emotion and intuition,
“the great ocean from which we are born,
“Come into my circle now. Come in good measure (spirits).
“Bring with you the gifts of vitality and deluge.
“Undine join us now. So Mote it Be!”
I did the ritual again. I fumbled around with the lighter and therefore started using matches thereafter. Some people met on the other side of the road. I don’t know what for, but nonetheless I waited until they were gone and took three breaths to refocus.
I spoke the quarter call aloud and then focused on the symbol of water: a blue inverted triangle. I carved it in the air with my athame.
I saw a waters made of light in the blackness, stimulated by the sound of the river, which I was facing. I lost my meditative state because my back hurt but quickly got back into it.
Second time around I saw water as if I was moving down toward it. I moved underneath the water and saw as a fish does. I realized, looking upward, that the ego-logical world is just as strange to the emotional as it is vice versa. I saw the fish swim up the river, compelled to spawn. It did not think about why, it simply acted.
After the ritual I was approached by two young women, mormons I think. They said they felt a prompting to come check on me. Maybe they just saw me walk to my car or maybe they felt a spiritual disturbance. Who can say? Either way two young women approached a mans car at night in a kind of secluded place. Not a good idea.
Air:
So at another time before the ritual, I had a revelation about air. Air, representing the mind, is like a vessel. The shape of the vessel determines the shape of what is within it. The shape of the mind detemines the shape of the pure-thought that moves through it. In that way the mind is like the “voice-box”, which shapes the air that passes through it.
I did this ritual December 5th 2025.
During the ritual I tried to just use the seventh key drawn into the ground, rather than using ashes or coals which I only thought to use after. So the elemental did not stay in its circle at all.
I did the call and the ritual proper. I heard the thing moving around in the trees. I said out loud to quit playing in the trees. I imagined the thing coming back to its containment circle, then I realized that it was the elementals nature to be up there. I saw myself flying with it through the branches and past a darkened light pole. Then that vision ceased.
I saw an inky black substance bubbling with many colors mixed in like oil. I had seen the primordial substance. This was not the same as the inky black sickness I saw before. This was natural. I saw the yellow triangle again, the air symbol. I heard the wind move somewhere behind me (my point of consciousness was in my body again). I realized something was off, but I didn’t know what. I felt/saw the elemental move about, skittery, like an animal would; specifically like a greyhound that has heard something but has not yet seen it. Looking around. As I was trying to listen I heard a sound like water, but I knew that couldn’t be right, given the direction. As it turns out it was two cops who were checking on someone sitting by the river near candles. Everything was fine but I ended the ritual after that. My concentration was broken.
“Hail to the guardian of the watchtower of the east,
“element of air, essence of flow and free thought,
“come join me in my circle tonight, come in good spirits.
“Bring with you the gift of clarity and alacrity.
“Mind that shapes, mind that manifests.
“Sylphs be here. Hail and well met.”
Earth:
It should be noted that during this ritual I was particularly disturbed by intrusive urges. I feel that the ritual was successful, but not in the way I necessarily intended. Perhaps that is the way of it. I did this ritual on January 18th 2026.
I didn’t see much in the way of visions. I kept hearing the phrase, like a mantra, “you just stay”. I got the sense of boulders settling on my arms.
I saw for a moment marching through tunnels, as if from the first person. It was dark and I saw a little light ahead and got the sense that there were others marching with me, in front and behind.
At some point I saw a Horned God and heard his footsteps. He had the head of an elk, with the backward growing antlers and brown coloring.
I heard the mantra again “you just stay”. I understood that this Horned God was a local Pan. This was the little spirit who had bothered me before, or maybe the little spirit served this Pan that had induced my panic.
I asked what it wanted out loud. In my open eyes I saw a few stacked stones with a gold locket. The stones were like pieces of shale, though I don’t think the exact stones matter here. There were three little ones on each side holding up a bigger one in the middle. On the middle one there is another stone placed behind it. It was a little altar, enough for veneration.
This local spirit just wants recognition as the local spirit. I will bring it a little locket. I looked at one today at Walmart. It is $168. I don’t know if I will get that one or another. Part of me wants to, but hell! That is expensive. I guess that is why it is a sacrifice. I will ask the Tarot just to be sure.
I feel as though my understanding of earth is incomplete. I saw only partial images because I called on only part of the essence. My understanding is not yet full. It may be that the Horned God is this god of the earth, and the gnomes are less relevant to the element. I don’t know.
Update: I decided against such a serious offering. I created an altar of stones and left the Elk God a silver pendant and two gold coins I had been carrying around. I made it clear that I thought such a large offering was inappropriate for a spirit I had just met. I got the feeling that this was fine. It was like the way that a hostile man is when he pushes on another’s boundaries to see where he will stand. The Elk God was testing me basically. My offering was accepted. I intend to leave it some incense a little later.
“Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the north,
“element of earth, essence of endurance and the stalwart,
“join us in our circle tonight, come in good spirits.
“Bring with you the gifts of won wisdom and deep secrets.
“Thrum of my bones, ache of age.
“Come now gnomes. Hail and well met.”
I intend to try again with evokation triangles and with the circle outside. I intend to see these spirits with my own eyes if it is possible. I have decided to create an evokation triangle based on the Tenth Key of Basil Valentine. For some reason I am quite sure that is right. I had wanted to make a modified Triangle of Art that utilizes the Goddess, God, and The ALL for a while now, and when I saw the Tenth Key I knew that was the way.
I intend to use three equilateral triangular boards of white birch. Each will be 13” on each side, a quarter inch thick, and 60 degrees on each angle. Two will have a hole cut in the center and they will be glued and pressed together with small holes drilled in each corner and dowels hammered into them with glue. The hole in the center will house a 5 inch obsidian mirror. The third triangle will serve as a back. On the top right corner will be Luna and in the top left will be Sol. The bottom middle will be the modified Mercury to represent the ALL. I will burn these into the wood and a border also.
I will be skipping all the hebrew text and the latin.
That is the plan anyway.
Post Note:
Sorry about being so delayed. Life has been hectic. May this serve you.
